Weddings - July 30, 2002
MCCORDHUDSPETH
Amy Jeanne McCord and Matthew Ryan Hudspeth were married at 7 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church of Richardson. Terry Parsons officiated.

Wedding - July 31, 2002
MESSERSMITHRODGERS
Ashley Suzanne Messersmith and Ben Casey Rodgers were married at 8 p.m. June 22 at Second Baptist Church in Houston. John Ferguson, grandfather of the bride, officiated.

Engagements - July 30, 2002
MOJICAGARCIA
Mary Linda Mojica and Feliciano Garcia Jr., both of Lubbock, an nounce their engagement. The couple will marry Saturday at Our Lady of Grace Church.

Engagements - July 31, 2002
ROWANWILKINSON
Carol Ruth Rowan and Douglas Neal Wilkinson, both of Wichita, Kan., announce their engagement. The couple will marry Oct. 20 at The Woodrow House.

Earnings restatement could help, hurt Qwest
DENVER (AP)  Qwest's acknowledgment of accounting problems could help the regional phone service pro vider restore investor trust, but analysts said big revisions in the 2000 and 2001 bottom line could hurt the sale of a phone-directory business Qwest is counting on to reduce debt.
Officials of Qwest Com munications International Inc., already under investigation for its accounting practices, said accounting errors made in 1999, 2000 and 2001 under policies approved by previous auditor Arthur Andersen LLP prompted an internal analysis earlier this year. Qwest hired auditor KPMG LLP in June to examine its books.

Business today - July 31, 2002
DALLAS  IBM Corp. will supply Southwest Airlines with self-service check-in kiosks at up to 13 airports. The first kiosks are operating at Love Field in Dallas. Others are planned for later this year at San Antonio, Phoenix, Nashville, Houston Hobby, Chicago Midway, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento, Orlando, and Baltimore-Washington.

Q and A
Q: I have a friend who is deep in credit card debt. She is currently unemployed and unable to meet her obligations. She pays $1,200 a month toward credit cards. I suggested she file credit card bankruptcy as opposed to normal bankruptcy. Is it true that under credit card bankruptcy it will only appear on your credit history for three years as opposed to seven?

Business calendar - July 31, 2002
TODAY
SBA Financing & Informational Workshop: 6 p.m.-8 p.m., Texas Tech Small Business Development Center, 2579 S. Loop 289. Cost: No charge. Seating is limited. Topic: Learn about SBA loans, what business owners should know before applying, what bankers are looking for, the business plan and more. For reservations and more information, call 745-1637.

Business today - July 30, 2002
CLINTON, Miss.  WorldCom Inc. hired restructuring experts to two key posts, including a new chief financial officer, as it tries to get back on track.

Economy takes a hit in consumers' confidence
NEW YORK (AP)  Consumers' confidence in the economy was buffeted this month by the stock market drop, corporate scandals and the slow increase in available jobs, a private research group reported Tuesday.

Senators accuse Merrill Lynch of Enron help
WASHINGTON (AP)  Skep tical senators accused Merrill Lynch & Co. on Tues day of abandoning its moral, if not legal, responsibility to investors by helping Enron hide its financial problems despite a host of ethical questions.
"Merrill Lynch was fully aware of what Enron was trying to do," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the investigative subcommittee of the Senate Govern mental Affairs Committee.

Q and A
Q: We owe approximately $9,000 on credit cards. My wife and I have almost $45,000 in student loans. We earn almost $60,000 a year, but we never can seem to put any money aside. We are just barely making our payments. We wonder about having children, but since we need both incomes to live decently. We seldom take more than one vacation a year, and both of our cars are over two years old. We are constantly trying to stem the tide, but so far no luck. Any suggestions?

Microsoft, AT&T Wireless deal in works
SEATTLE (AP)  Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Wireless planned to announce today that they will begin offering new wireless services to business customers, sources said.

Dynegy nets $928 million from sale of gas pipeline
HOUSTON (AP)  Dynegy Inc. received a major financial boost with Monday's announcement the company has sold its 16,600-mile natural gas pipe line, acquired from its failed merger with Enron Corp., to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. for $928 million in cash.

Enron art collection gathers dust in storage
HOUSTON (AP)  Enron Corp. wanted a world-class contemporary art collection with bold pieces that would promote the company's image as a trendsetter in creating new trading markets for energy, broadband and water.

Tech player makes his mark
Official reporting day was just a formality for Manuel Ramirez.
Sure, the new Texas Tech offensive lineman filled out his paperwork and took his physical exam, but he showed up nearly two months ahead of time. He's already learned the lay of the land, befriended fellow linemen Rex Richards and Jon Rodriguez and earned a reputation in the Red Raiders' weight room.

Knight, Tech garner CCSF recruit Travis
Almost 15 years since his last Bay Area basketball bonanza, Texas Tech men's basketball coach Bob Knight has picked up another prize pupil from the City College of San Francisco.

Sports briefly - July 31, 2002
Third-year Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach will be the featured speaker at the annual Red Raider Club Kickoff Luncheon at the Lubbock Civic Center Aug. 15. The event gets underway with lunch at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $15 per person or $150 for a table of eight. To make reservations, call 742-1196.
Williams' daughter sees no room for compromise

First group of Red Raiders close to hitting field
The first football practice remains a few days away, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders can see it from here. Newcomers work out for the first time on Thursday and returning varsity players on Saturday.
Officially, preseason camp kicks off today with 25 new players who are cleared for workouts scheduled to report to campus this afternoon.

Area players play role in North's 107-102 win over South
HOUSTON  Like the sparse crowd on hand at Hoffheinz Pavilion Monday night, all Abernathy's Matt Pierce and Hale Center's Tyson Johnson could do was watch as their North all-star teammates rallied back from 16 points down and then held off a late charge against the South.

Lebby, Thomas team up
HOUSTON  After all this time, David Thomas and Jeff Lebby both say it's nice to finally be on the same team.
But the two longtime friends had better get that out of their systems.

Cash For Sludge?
AN INSPIRATIONAL saying a few years ago went, "When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade." The city of Lubbock may take it and paraphrase it as such: "When life hands you sludge, make compost."
Sludge is the word for the biosolids that remain after municipal sewage is treated and the liquid waste is removed. It is something that every city has to deal with in one way or another.

Foolish Behavior
IT IS HARD FOR most adults to understand the foolishness that led three Midland teen-agers to pour lighter fluid on a friend  who evidently was a willing participant  and set him on fire.
"What in the world were they thinking?" was probably the universal reaction in the mind of people to that news story.

Bad Grad Rate
TEXAS TECH'S GRADUATION rate of men's basketball players has much room for improvement, but we are confident that we will see just that in years to come.

Agriculture workshop will be rescheduled
The Aug. 6 teachers' workshop for "Ag in the Classroom," a joint project of Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, Lubbock County Farm Bureau, AgTexas Farm Credit Services, Texas Farm Bureau and the Farmer-Stockman Show, has been canceled due to conflict with teacher inservice programs.

Ropes gets new superintendent
ROPESVILLE  Ropes Independent School District named Gary E. Lehnen as superintendent at Monday's school board meeting.
Lehnen replaces Elbert Wuthrich, who left to work for the Whiteface school district.

Dallas, Houston Texas' most crowded classes
AUSTIN (AP)  Texas' two largest school districts, Dallas and Houston, account for more than half of the state's overcrowded campuses this year.
The districts, which have about 9 percents of Texas' 4.1 million public school students, have most of the nearly 500 schools that exceeded the state's student-teacher ratio law, according to new figures from the Texas Education Agency.

Being fired doesn't stop Rukeyser
NEW YORK  The aftermath of last spring's feud between Louis Rukeyser and Maryland Public Television recalls the famous Cold War acronym MAD  mutually assured destruction.
It couldn't have happened anywhere but the Public Broadcasting Service, stung in this case by its unique decentralized structure.

CBS airs '9/11'
LOS ANGELES  CBS News devoted the longest continuous coverage in the history of the network to th

THSCA NOTEBOOK
 Frenship head coach Bobby Davis is one of three candidates to serve as the president for the Texas High School Coaches Association in 2003-2004. Allen's Joe Martin and Abilene Wylie's Hugh Sandifer are the other candidates. The president will be elected in a vote of coaches today.

North takes advantage of turnovers
HOUSTON  On a night for record-setting offenses, it only made sense that two fourth-quarter turnovers proved to be the difference Tuesday night when high school football stars from Texas gathered at Rice Stadium.
Sparked by a late interception and fumble recovery, the North outlasted the South 31-24 in the 68th annual Texas High School Coaches Association all-star game.

Full-Time P.Dog Trapper?
I have been following the saga of the Lubbock prairie dogs with great interest and amusement. Congratulations to the Native Americans. They were the only ones I heard of who objected to the killing of the dogs and were willing to and did something constructive about it.

Prairie Dog Management
I am writing because of my concern about your article, "Book claims prairie dog no threat" (A-J, 7-21).
The Lubbock community turns to The A-J for objective, fact-finding reporting, and the omission of important information seems to stray from the spirit of The A-J's character.

Public Disarmament Policies
The time span necessary to label and disarm a class of people was short. The time span to Zyklon-B, rendered body fat, and human skinned lamp shades was shorter.

New LPD Chief, Vatican Art
We now have a new police chief. It is good that a local person got the position. But my question is: "Why the long wait, and why spend thousands of dollars for a nationwide search, then bring four men in for interviews, and, in the end, hire someone who lives in Lubbock?" It would be interesting to know just how much was spent.

SEC Rule Confiscatory
Re: Domestic equity mutual fund comparison (4-30).
I have worked up a comparison of mutual funds with and without the 12b-l fee that the SEC has authorized. I believe that it would be good to show your readers the differences.

Prairie Dog Questions
As the Conservation Chair for the Llano Estacado Audubon Society, it has been my job to become knowledgeable about the prairie dog issue on the Lubbock city farm.

Tofu makes a few tasty dishes
CONCORD, N.H.  Bad tofu recipes abound. So do boring ones.
I blame it on the fact that soy is good for you. Seems the health benefits have persuaded everyone, and not just vegetarians anymore, to put tofu in everything from choc olate-chip cookies to ravioli.

Reunion calendar - July 31, 2002
Hobbs, N.M., High School Class of 1972  Friday-Saturday, Hobbs Country Club and Hobbs High School. Judy Tyler Spoonts at (806) 798-3946 or judyspoonts@yahoo.com or hhsnm72@tripod.com.

Beaulac makes super wine
If, like the bumper sticker says, you think that "life is too short to drink bad wine," then you'll want to spend more time enjoying the fruits of California's St. Supery winery.
I've admired the whites and reds from this medium-size winery in Napa's Pope Valley for the past five years and have never understood why they haven't gotten more attention. But if you remember the name "St. Supery," you're never going to be disappointed.

Do good things
Steve Madrid said his son, Damian, is more of a writer, while his daughter, Milena, is more of a speaker.
This summer the writer and speaker also have been travelers. Damian, 12, was in Connecticut for a week in June; Milena, 17, spent the first week of July in Indi ana and the second July in New Mexico.

Catching on to catfish
Traditionally considered Southern fare, catfish is making a splash across the United States.
An increasing number (and variety) of res taurants have added catfish to their menus. Restaurants such as Chili's, Rainforest Cafe and McCormick & Schmick's offer entres, and consumers across the country are preparing catfish at home more often, as well.

Tomatoes, potatoes closely related enough to graft together
Ever notice how much alike a tomato and a potato are? Not the edible parts, but the leaves and the flowers. The plants could be mistaken for twins.
Tomato and potato even could be grafted together, creating a single plant yielding both potatoes and tomatoes. Those tomato roots never did us any good anyway, and the green potato fruits that sometimes dangle from potato stems are poisonous. Sometimes such grafted plants are offered for sale: Anyone want to buy a pomato or a totato?

Blueberries bring pleasure
Blueberries in summer are a favorite pleasure. Eat them simply, uncooked, with a touch of cream; or give them a role in one of the two following quickly made presentations, a shortcake and a frosty drink.

More older Americans cohabitating
WASHINGTON (AP)  Vic Pelton, 73 and in love, says there are no wedding bells in his future. He's content to share house keys and closet space  but not "I do's"  with his girlfriend of nearly two decades.
Census Bureau data shows Pelton and his 64-year-old lady love, Jean Lovetang, are among a growing number of older Americans living together. There are at least 112,000 such couples, a survey found.

Bee look-alikes are friends to humans
Don't swat or scorn every flying insect that comes your way. The insect could be a harmless syrphid fly, a creature whose friendship is worth pursuing.
With bright stripes of yellow, brown, and black, and sometimes hairy bodies, syrphid flies do indeed resemble bees or yellow jackets. But syrphid flies have only one pair of wings in contrast to the two pairs on bees or wasps. Syrphid flies also have a distinctive way of flying, hovering in place for a few seconds, then darting off quickly to hover somewhere else, much like hummingbirds. For this reason they are also called hover flies.

Steps to Art leads to music programs for toddlers
NEW YORK  Spend enough time with preschoolers and it's easy to see that they are huge fans of music. The youngsters are always singing, dancing and, often, making up their own tunes.
What adults don't exactly see but surely will notice is the connection the children experience as the music conjures up feelings and memories.

Shopping network marks 25th year
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.  Bobbi Ray Carter is at the top of her selling game, describing in loving detail an elegant beige jacket with a ruffled collar.

Community briefs
Boys Club members take field trip
The three branches of Lub bock Boys and Girls Clubs will be closed Friday while members are taken on an annual trip to Texas Water Rampage.

Musty fragrance, flavor of fresh sage complement pork
Sage's slightly musty fragrance and flavor pair well with pork, says food writer Joanne Weir in "All About Herbs," a feature on how to use fresh herbs, in Cooking Light magazine.
The following low-fat recipe for braised pork roulade is an example of how to use sage to advantage.

Ex-officer gets year probation
An ex-police officer in Slaton, who lied to grand jurors during an investigation into a former police chief's alleged sexual encounters with minors, has received deferred adjudication on a perjury charge.

News briefs
Nancy Vasquez, 34, of Lubbock was in critical condition Tuesday night at University Medical Center. She was injured in a collision July 24 in the 5300 block of FM 40.

Make Kids Count cuts field to 16
Hollie Gurrola had to be the luckiest girl in the room today as the field of 32 contestants in the $10,000 Make Kids Count Scholar ship contest was narrowed to 16.

News brief
Nancy Vasquez, 34, of Lubbock remained in critical condition Monday at University Medical Center. She was injured in a collision Wednesday night in the 5300 block of FM 40.

Pickup driver still critical after crash
James Marion Cody, 57, of Lubbock was in critical condition at University Medical Center on Monday after a two-vehicle collision a day earlier in Southwest Lubbock.

Experts: To curb brain drain, showcase local job opportunities
Area employment experts want to clog Lubbock's brain drain of talent and money to other cities by showing residents and recent graduates the employment opportunities available in the region.
A recent study by the Austin American Statesman reported that across the state, 31,450 people came to Lubbock from other Texas cities last year while 34,870 left Lubbock for other cities. The net loss of people and their incomes meant a net financial loss of $188,872 to the city.

Lubbock has hand in rescue
At the Goulds Pumps factory in Northwest Lubbock, a banner hangs as a message to employees.
"Thank you for all your hard work," it reads.

Tech parkway fuels questions
Residents are puzzled by a portion of Texas Tech's $9.2 million proposed parkway, which will replace a portion of Quaker Avenue that, they say, is fine the way it is.

Getting his kicks
Isaiah Herrera, who will be a ninth-grader this fall, practices his soccer game Monday afternoon behind Lubbock High School. A high of only 87 degrees on Monday made practice a little easier.

Rise in inmates slowed; blacks
still most jailed
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. inmate population in 2001 rose at the slowest pace in almost 30 years, with blacks still far more likely to be incarcerated than whites or Hispanics, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

FBI stumped by operator's discovery of al-Qaida site
WASHINGTON (AP)  When Web operator Jon Messner gained control of one of al-Qaida's prime Internet communication sites, he offered it to the FBI to use it for disinformation and collecting data about sympathizers

Senators rip telecom chiefs over scandals
WASHINGTON (AP)  Lead ers of three big telecom companies engulfed in ac counting scandals faced Senate criticism Tuesday over the excesses of executives who cashed out millions in company stock.
At the White House, Pres ident Bush signed into law the most far-reaching government crackdown on business fraud in 70 years, hoping to restore investor confidence with a promise of "hard time" for corporate wrongdoers.

Executive meets miners, vows to re-open mine
SOMERET, Pa. (AP)  A mining executive said Tuesday that he had been in touch with all nine men rescued from a flooded coal mine over the weekend, one day after some of them complained their boss hadn't been in touch.

Markets bounce back
NEW YORK (AP)  Galvanized by hopes that the market's worst days are behind it, investors sent the Dow surging nearly 450 points Monday in its third-largest daily gain ever.
The stunning advance, which also saw the Nasdaq rise more than 70 points, extended a rally that began last week. Investors are apparently becoming more comfortable about so-so earnings reports and less worried about corporate bookkeeping.

Couple going to jail for old kidnapping
NEW YORK (AP)  An Albuquerque, N.M., couple who admitted kidnapping a baby in 1979 and moving to New Mexico to raise him as their own was sent to jail on Tuesday despite the pleadings of the child, now 23 years old.

Pilot whales stranded for second say; 14 die
EASTHAM, Mass. (AP)  Rescuers gave up extraordinary efforts to save more than 40 pilot whales that became beached Tuesday for a second time in two days, saying too many were sick or in shock from the ordeal.

NTSB: Derailed train had 'misshapen' tracks
KENSINGTON, Md. (AP)  The engineer of the Amtrak train that derailed this week saw a "misshapen" area of track just before the accident and investigators later found the rails more than two feet out of alignment, a federal official said Tuesday.

Corruption case topples Traficant
CLEVELAND (AP)  Expelled from Congress a week ago, an unrepentant James A. Traficant Jr. was sentenced to eight years behind bars for corruption Tuesday and made it clear he intends to run for re-election from his prison cell  and expects to win.

Hurried dentist suspected of being jaw-breaker
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)  A dentist arrested on Medicaid fraud charges was in such a rush to make money that she broke patients' jawbones while pulling teeth and worked on a 6-year-old boy without anesthesia, former employees and patients told investigators.

Jesus Cantu
Rosary for Jesus Montalvo Cantu, 73, of Lubbock will be at 7 p.m. today at Resthaven Abbey Chapel.

Merle Randolph
PLAINVIEW  Services for Merle Randolph, 77, of Plainview will be at 3 p.m. Thursday at First Assembly of God Church in Plainview with the Rev. F. Neil Unwin officiating and Randy West assisting.

Melvin Brown
MULESHOE  Services for Melvin Brown, 53, of Muleshoe will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Trinity Baptist Church in Muleshoe with the Rev. Billy Finch officiating.

Nancy Meyers
Graveside services for Nancy Myers, 64, of Lubbock will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at City of Lubbock Cemetery with Stan Blevins officiating.

Mildred Bolf
LEVELLAND  Graveside services for Mildred Beard Bolf, 87, of Baird will be at 10 a.m. Friday in City of Levelland Cemetery with Alton Graves officiating.

Robert Lomax
SNYDER  Graveside services for Robert Lomax, 77, of Snyder will be at 2 p.m. today in Ira Cemetery with the Rev. Charles Day officiating.

Hallie Chesser
Services for Hallie Higginbotham Chesser, 85, of Anton will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Lawrence Avenue Church of Christ in Anton with Larry Bloskas, David Pinkerton and Hoyt Cranfill officiating.

Ouida Skinner
LAMESA  Services for Ouida Skinner, 85, of Lamesa will be at 10:30 a.m. today at Second Baptist Church in Lamesa with the Rev. Clifton Igo officiating.

Mark Sipes
LOVINGTON, N.M.  Services for Mark David Sipes, 30, of Rush Springs, Okla., will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Smith-Rogers Funeral Home Chapel in Lovington with the Rev. Mike McGuire officiating.

Lucy Rangel
Prayer services for Lucy Rangel, 87, of Lubbock will be at 7 p.m. today at Templo El Redentor.

Billy Thurman
TULIA  Services for Billy Edwin Thurman, 67, of Bartlesville, Okla., will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Tulia First Baptist Chapel with the Rev. Charles Davenport officiating.

Helen Powell
CUMMING, Ga.  Cremation arrangements for Helen Powell, 77, of Cumming were under the direction of L.W. McDonald & Son Funeral Home of Cumming.

Chrystalene Woosley
SNYDER  Services for Chrystalene "Chick" Woosley, 77, of Snyder will be at 10 a.m. today in Wright-Colonial Funeral Home Chapel in Snyder with Tommy Culwell officiating.

Jerry Perkins
SILVERTON  Services for Jerry Perkins, 56, of Amarillo will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Silverton with the Rev. Tony Boyd and Edwin Norris officiating.

George Norsworthy
HOBBS, N.M.  Services for George W. Norsworthy, 93, of Seminole will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Chapel of Hope in Hobbs.

Bobby Tomlinson
KILGORE  Services for Bobby Eugene Tomlinson, 63, of Kilgore will be at 2 p.m. today at Rader Funeral Home of Kilgore.

Police blotter - July 30, 2002
Blotter information is compiled from reports filed with the Lubbock Police Department.
To report information about these or other crimes, call Crime Line at 741-1000.

Police blotter - July 31, 2002
Blotter information is compiled from reports filed with the Lubbock Police Department. To report information about these or other crimes, call Crime Line at 741-1000. In some cases, cash rewards are offered. Callers may remain anonymous.
THEFT

Mavs, LaFrentz ink seven-year contract
DALLAS (AP)  When free agent-to-be Raef LaFrentz was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in February, he knew right away that he wanted to stay. On Tuesday, he got his wish.

American league roundup - July 31, 2002
ARLINGTON  Bernie Williams and Jason Giambi hit two-run homers, helping David Wells overcome a rocky start as the New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 9-6 Tuesday night for their 10th win 13 games.

Williams leaves mark in first practice
DAVIE, Fla. (AP)  Wearing pads under his new team's uniform for the first time, Ricky Williams took the first handoff, lowered his head, disappeared into the scrum and emerged on the other side 5 yards downfield.

Iverson cleared of most charges
PHILADELPHIA (AP)  NBA All-Star Allen Iverson was cleared of all but a misdemeanor Monday at a hearing into charges he stormed into his cousin's apartment with a gun and threatened two men while looking for his wife.

Generational battles part of golf's landscape
PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP)  Jack Nicklaus held his own against Tiger Woods for three rounds at the Memorial. It took a prime-time exhibition in the California desert to make him realize how much the game has passed him by.
Nicklaus and Lee Trevino, the 62-year-old partners of Woods and Sergio Garcia, hit drivers on the opening hole and were 15 yards short of where the youngsters hit 3-woods.

Cowboys utilize safety net
SAN ANTONIO (AP)  Darren Woodson is a five-time Pro Bowler and the oldest player for the Dallas Cowboys. Roy Williams is the No. 1 pick tabbed as a starter before even playing a game.
Together, the 33-year-old veteran and the All-American from Oklahoma give Dallas a pair of hard-hitting safeties that are interchangeable on the field and almost inseparable off it.

Woods, Bear tame Bighorn
PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP)  Jack Nicklaus knocked down a lag and Tiger Woods took care of the rest Monday night as the best players of their generations lived up to the billing in the Battle at Bighorn.

Source: Cavs ship Miller to Clips in package deal
CLEVELAND (AP)  Andre Miller, the NBA's assist leader last season, and forward Bryant Stith have been traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Los Angeles Clippers for forwards Darius Miles and Harold Jamison, The Associated Press has learned.

Players, owners still divided on key issues
NEW YORK (AP)  Another day at the bargaining table produced only slight progress for baseball players and owners, who still appear headed toward the sport's ninth work stoppage since 1972.

Rams sign Faulk to seven-year deal
MACOMB, Ill. (AP)  Marshall Faulk signed a seven-year contract with the St. Louis Rams on Monday, a deal that will enable the running back to finish his career with the team.

Man faces second charge in slayings
HOBBS, N.M.  Manuel Martinez, 37, of Hobbs, who was charged last week with the murder of a jewelry store owner, was charged Monday with the murder of the owner's wife, who died Saturday at a Lubbock hospital.

Man pleads guilty in Hockley shooting
LEVELLAND  Patrick Wall, the suspect in an attempted capital murder, pleaded guilty Monday morning, the day he was scheduled to face trial for the crime.
Wall, 20, also known as Patrick Langston, was convicted of shooting a man after breaking into a Hockley County home Dec. 17, 2001.

Medicaid suit ends in secret, like it began
AUSTIN (AP)  A whistle-blower lawsuit that accused the state's Medicaid contractor of not collecting millions of dollars allegedly owed to taxpayers ended in secret, just like it began.

Blast at Fort Hood kills two soldiers
FORT HOOD (AP)  Two Army soldiers were killed and nine others were injured early Monday when a tank erupted in flames during gunnery exercises at Fort Hood's Brookhaven Range.

High school mail sickens employees
McALLEN (AP)  A high school remained sealed Tuesday as investigators awaited laboratory test results on piece of mail blamed for sickening six employees.

Search under way for missing boy
FORT STOCKTON (AP)  A Department of Public Safety helicopter and crews on horseback and on foot were searching Tuesday for a 4-year-old boy who disappeared from his rural West Texas home on Monday.

Voters not happy with campaigns
FORT WORTH (AP)  Some Texans along the campaign trail said Tuesday they're not pleased with the direction the race for governor is taking now that both major candidates are firing off attack ads.

Popular gorilla dies at Dallas Zoo
DALLAS  Jake, a 4-year-old western lowland gorilla that was among the Dallas Zoo's most popular attractions, has died from encephalitis, zoo officials said Tuesday.

Child abuse assistance program attracting soaring enrollments
DALLAS(AP)  Every timeshe hears of a child-abuse case  a girl locked in a closet for months, two girls killed by their father following a messy divorce  Mary Jo Crow cringes.
Finally, she was moved to join a group  "Court Appointed Special Advocates"  that provides a voice for children whose parents have been accused of abuse or neglect.

Free on bond
HOUSTON (AP)  A Hou ston-area dentist accused of running over and killing her husband last week remained free on bond Monday after an arrest warrant was reissued based on a police report she had violated her bond.

Millions in college grant money unused
AUSTIN (AP)  This fall, 17-year-old Hope Benson will become the first person in her family to attend college.
The recent graduate of a Houston high school plans to study psychology and theater at Texas Southern University, and thanks to a Texas Grant, she won't pay a penny for tuition or fees.

Union leader demands better training
HOUSTON (AP)  The president of the Harris County Deputies Association is demanding better training in the wake of the second "friendly fire" shooting of a deputy in as many months.

Work force experts address brain drain in Lubbock
Area employment experts want to clog Lubbock's brain drain of talent and money to other cities by showing residents and recent graduates the employment opportunities available in the region.
A recent study by the Austin American Statesman reported that across the state, 31,450 people came to Lubbock from other Texas cities last year while 34,870 left Lubbock for other cities. The net loss of people and their incomes meant a net financial loss of $188,872 to the city.

Baby drowns after apparent fall into mop bucket
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  A 1 1/2-year-old boy apparently drowned after falling off a laundry pile into a mop bucket as his mother slept a few feet away, police said.
Lt. Huey Thornton said the case was not considered a homicide. But he said investigators didn't know how Marquez Gadson got into the 2-feet-tall bucket by himself.

Citizens group seeks removal of Prairie View A&M dean
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (AP)  A half-dozen demonstrators have called for the resignation of a Prairie View A&M dean who was accused of public lewdness.
Gerald Rambally, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, should not be allowed to continue in his position after he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, the demonstrators said Tuesday.

Two killed in what officials say was murder-suicide
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP)  A woman and her boyfriend are dead in what officials said was a murder-suicide.
The Hays County Sheriff's Office said it received a call Tuesday evening from a 14-year-old girl who reported a disturbance between her mother, Isabel Sanchez, 41, and her mother's boyfriend, Daniel Alvarez, 58.

Perry says Sanchez ads will remain on the air
SAN ANTONIO (AP)  Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday said he will continue running a TV ad that links Democratic rival Tony Sanchez to a past investigation of possible drug money laundering at a Sanchez-owned bank in the early 1980s.
Using battlefield imagery, Perry said he wasn't willing to back away from the ad, which has been criticized as unfair because the federal probe of the former Tesoro Savings and Loan cleared the institution of any wrongdoing.

Official: Bus driver had drugs in system at time of fatal crash
GARLAND, Texas (AP)  Drug use, fatigue and inattention were all factors in a charter bus crash that killed the driver and four youths and injured dozens on their way to a church camp, state investigators said Tuesday.
The driver, Ernest Carter Jr., also had falsified the medical card required for his certification, and the charter bus was in violation of state law because it displayed only dealer tags while carrying a full load of passengers, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in its final report on the June 24 crash on Interstate 20.

Father gets three years for beating child because she watched 'Monsters Inc'
CLEVELAND (AP)  A man was sentenced to three years in prison for beating his daughter because she and her siblings saw "Monsters, Inc." without him.
Scott Whitney, 36, of suburban Lakewood, told his four children not to see the movie with their grandfather because he wanted to take them to it, prosecutors said.

Police bust meth operation at Lubbock motel
Patrol officers responding to a report of a man with a gun at a South Lubbock motel instead found about a pound of partially refined methamphetamine and several components of a mobile meth lab.
Police arrested four people as a result of the bust. They were being arraigned Tuesday afternoon, a jail spokesman said.

Scholarship contest down to 16
Hollie Gurrola had to be the luckiest girl in the room today as the field of 32 contestants in the $10,000 Make Kids Count Scholarship contest was cut in half. She was the only girl present among the eager contestants to advance to the round of 16.
Gurrola, who will celebrate her 10th birthday in August, hopes to earn a trip to Six Flags over Texas should she win the contest.

5th Circuit says denies killer's plea
HOUSTON (AP)  The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that a convicted killer waived his rights to an attorney when he was arrested, effectively ending his attempt at freedom based on claims his Fifth Amendment rights were violated.
The court ruled 11-3 that Max Alexander Soffar, 46, continued to talk to police after getting "multiple Miranda warnings," and so waived his rights to remain silent and have an attorney present.

Feds descend on Lubbock trade school
Federal investigators swept into International Business College with a search warrant Wednesday, closing the school and questioning students and instructors as they showed up for class.
Citing the need to protect any potential investigation, the government refused to say what prompted agents from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General to converge on the technical school at 4630 50th St.

Time Warner charges victims $300 for each damaged cable converter
SAN ANTONIO (AP)  Flood victims whose cable converters were destroyed during this month's heavy rains are being charged $300 for the damaged boxes by the company, officials said Tuesday.
Karen Hartley, vice president for marketing and communications at Time Warner, said it is the company's policy to bill for damaged boxes, which are leased from the cable company.

Weary pope renews cry for peace
GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  A visibly exhausted Pope John Paul II called for peace and justice Monday on his third trip to Guatemala, where thousands of Roman Catholic faithful carpeted Guate mala City's streets with an ornate path of pine needles, sand and flowers.
Arriving from Canada, the pope used a hydraulic lift to descend from a white Grupo TACA jet painted with the words "Messenger of Hope." John Paul, who has been using lifts to board and exit planes since May, surprised many when he used the stairs on his arrival and departure from Toronto.

Central America gets first saint as pope rallies for human rights
GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  Stopping often to catch his breath, an exhausted Pope John Paul II canonized Central America's first saint Tuesday and encouraged hundreds of thousands of cheering Guate malans to struggle for human rights in a nation bloodied by 36 years of war.
In a voice that at first was relatively clear but then slurred as the pope grew weary, John Paul said the new saint, Pedro de San Jose Bet an cur, "represents an urgent appeal to practice mercy in modern society, especially when so many are hoping for a helping hand."

Arabs hold doubts about way U.S. is handling Mideast conflict
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Arabs hold misgivings about the way the Bush administration is approaching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, doubting that Washington will pressure Israel into giving up the West Bank, Gaza and part of Jerusalem, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Tuesday.

Young bin Laden leads al-Qaida
WASHINGTON (AP)  One of Osama bin Laden's eldest sons has emerged as a leader in al-Qaida, gaining enough prestige that U.S. counterterrorism officials now consider him among their top two dozen targets remaining in the terrorist network.

Suicide bomber injures seven at fast-food stand
JERUSALEM (AP)  A suicide bomber blew himself up in a Jerusalem fast-food stand Tuesday, injuring seven people in the first attack here since back-to-back bombings prompted Israel to occupy major West Bank towns last month.